All of Me
by Fizzball247
Summary: Sasuke had never felt so useless. "Sakura. How do I fix you?" And she only smiled. "It doesn't hurt, Sasuke-kun. Pain doesn't hurt if it's all you've ever felt." AU.
1. Prelude

A/N: Hello. So I've been a lurker on fanfiction for years before I finally decided to stop being a bum and post something. So here we go. Let me know what you think!

Summary: Sasuke had never felt so useless. "Sakura. How do I fix you?" And she only smiled. "It doesn't hurt, Sasuke-kun. Pain doesn't hurt if it's all you've ever felt." AU.

* * *

 **all of me**

.

"Come on, come on, _come on!_ —"

Sasuke barely heard Naruto over the crowd as they pushed through. Some grunted at them with a scowl— (" _oy, pal. We were here first.")—_ but the streak of yellow and orange never let his grin falter. Sasuke almost sighed, but the stench of smoke, weed and sweat put him off almost entirely. Naruto promised he'd find some fun in this, but as they stopped in front of a metal chain-link fence, Sasuke couldn't help but be unimpressed.

He almost jumped when a tanned hand pulled at his shirt sleeve, and then wondered why he was so tense. Naruto laughed. "This is it, teme! Practically front row seats! This is going to be _so good,_ believe it!"

Naruto turned to his side, poking at a white-haired man beside him. "Hey, when does this thing start?"

"Dude, don't touch me," the man deadpanned, and then laughed at Naruto's stricken expression, revealing sharp teeth. "Relax, I'm friendly. Starts pretty soon though. You a first-timer?"

The blond nodded amicably. "Yeah, me and Sasuke— he's this asshole here— got a tip that there's some pretty decent action going on down here so we thought to check it out."

Sharp-teeth smirked. "Sweet. I'm Suigestsu."

"Naruto."

"Are you placing any bets then?" Suigetsu asked. "Winner takes all."

"Maybe next time, man," Naruto said. "I'll check out the competition first."

Suigetsu opened his mouth to reply when the lights dimmed entirely. A single spotlight appeared on a podium above the fenced area, revealing a carrot-haired man with heavy piercings.

"I am Pein. Ladies and gentlemen," he spoke into a microphone, voice low, yet somehow carrying through the entire room. "You are in for a treat tonight. For the first time in months, we've got all our nine demons contained right here tonight, ready to fight in our caged arena. There will be blood. There will be violence. And there will be money. Place your bets. Ladies and gentlemen, our first fight will be between Gaara and Yugito!"

They heard metal doors swing shut. Lights flickered on directly above the arena, bright and ghastly. Shadows of a fenced ceiling were cast onto the concrete floor. At opposing sides of the arena- _cage,_ Sasuke thought idly- were a blood-haired man (who looked more like a boy their age, Sasuke noted), and a blonde woman with cold looks in their eyes. And Gaara's eyes were indeed a sight: rimmed entirely in black kohl, he looked almost like a feral animal. Someone cackled and prodded at the man, Gaara, with a stick of all things. Beside Sasuke, Naruto frowned slightly.

Gaara growled.

"Oh man," Sasuke heard Suigetsu breathe. "He's frothing at the fucking mouth. Love this guy!"

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Pein rasped. "Place your bets."

The crowd chanted for Gaara.

"Now, _fight!"_

The combatants didn't need to be told twice. A blue-skinned man poked at Gaara again before the latter swiftly grabbed hold and pulled the much larger man face first, to collide into the fence. There was a grunt, scraped skin and blood (Sasuke found out later that the metal fence was barbed). Sensing Yugito running towards him, Gaara grabbed the stick and took a heavy swing—

 _Crack—!_

The crowd screamed for blood. Yugito doubled over, clutching at her ribs tightly. Gaara grinned menacingly, raising the weapon once more, and taking another swing. Yugito dodged quickly and regained her footing, before tackling the redhead down onto the floor in an all-out brawl. She traded heavy blow after blow into his deeply grinning face, until—

 _Crunch—_

Gaara bit into her knuckles so hard they bled. He spat out a mouthful of blood— mostly his own— and two loose teeth, before he launched himself at her again.

Naruto nudged Sasuke's side and whispered. "Hey man, I'm up for a good fight and all, but this looks kind of brutal."

Sasuke nodded grimly.

"You think they're alright?" Naruto asked again. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I heard bones break. And there was so much blood. You reckon it's all fake?"

"This isn't illegal underground fighting for no reason, Naruto," Sasuke remarked. Still, he wondered why they seemed to fight with the intent to kill, as opposed to just winning…

"And the winner is _Gaara!_ Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the next round?!"

* * *

Gaara went down in the fifth round due to sheer exhaustion. The crowd jeered at this— they seemed to love his bloodthirsty, almost cannibalistic nature. He greeted his opponents and took them down with bloody bite marks, bones broken in unnatural angles and so much screaming. It was no wonder he was a favourite. Still he thought it was unfair that Gaara was left to fight round after round without so much as a break or a sip of water for his hoarse-sounding throat.

Sasuke thought it was disgusting. He was all but ready to leave even before the first fight ended, but Naruto insisted they stay. Something about wanting to know how the show ended, if they were all alright in the end, if the fights were staged like pro-wrestling. If, if, _if._ Sasuke only stayed because he was Naruto's bloody ride.

"And now, the final round," Pein hissed. "One of you will have the opportunity to call out an opponent for our undefeated champion! Volunteer yourself, call out one of our fighters, call out anyone! If your choice wins, ladies and gentlemen, you hit the jackpot tonight!"

The spotlight roamed about the room quickly, and landed on a whopping Suigetsu.

"I want the champion's handler!" Suigetsu shouted. The crowd roared in agreement.

Sasuke's brow furrowed. ' _Handler'?_ Like an animal tamer?

Suigetsu seemed to notice his befuddled look, and attempted an explanation. "See, like, if anyone can beat the demons, it'll be their handler, am I right?"

Pein seemed stunned by the choice but recovered quickly. "Very well, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, your champion, Sakura, will battle against her very own handler, Sasori!"

The crowd chanted for Sakura with more fervour than they did for Gaara. Sasuke wondered just what sort of fighter she was.

The metal doors swung open, and then were shut and locked quickly. On the one side was a russet-haired man with a lazy smile. He stood shirtless, a tattoo of a scorpion emblazoned on his chest. He didn't look at all bothered by the fact that he was battling against their champion. But then again, like Suigetsu said, he _was_ Sakura's 'handler'.

Sakura… wasn't what he expected. She stood at five foot tall at most, with spiky pink hair and green eyes. She looked like a little pixie, with twiggish arms that did not belong in an arena, even if she did don skin-tight leather from head to toe.

Sasori nodded. "Come."

And so began their fight.

It was brutal. Much like how Gaara initially had the unfair advantage, Sasori was armed with a dagger. Sakura was light enough on her feet to dodge most of his attacks, though she did bear cuts and deep gashes where he managed to strike. She was acrobatic, managing to contort herself in odd angles to avoid Sasori's harsh kicks and the bloody dagger. Although put off by the violence and blood displayed by the previous fighters, Sasuke found himself drawn toward this battle, and saw why she was a fan favourite.

Her moves were deliberate, calculated. Her strikes would always land. Yet, she was on the defensive. He only began wondering how she would win, _if_ she would win, when she answered the unspoken question for him:

 _"SHANNARO!"_

She launched herself straight towards her handler. Sasori shifted his arm, and the spectators found Sakura practically impaled in the gut by the dagger. There were loud gasps in the audience. Sakura coughed blood, and grinned down at her opponent before seizing his unsuspecting neck and twisting his head in an unnatural angle. His body slumped backward almost immediately, leaving the dagger stuck in her abdomen.

There was silence. And then approving, blood-thirsty cheers.

Sakura breathed heavily. Her eyes were wan as she looked from the limp form of her handler, to the crowd, and then to where Pein stood. Sasuke noted that his jaw was set grimly. He looked almost murderous.

Sasuke watched as Sakura removed the dagger from her abdomen carefully. Pein did nothing to call forward the first aiders Sasuke spotted in the corner.

"Our first death in the arena," Pein whispered. "And from your reaction, ladies and gentlemen, certainly not the last. Next week, watch our… undefeated champion… defend her title, to the death."

Sakura looked as though she were about to cry.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts?


	2. One

_A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone! Here's the next chapter!_

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

"Wash your hands, dobe."

Naruto jogged backwards from the restroom exit towards the sink with a snicker. "Aw, man. I knew I forgot something!"

Sasuke's lip curled upward. "Disgusting."

"For the record," Naruto sniffed. "I do usually wash my hands after I take a piss… It's just— I don't know. Lots to think about. The fight club is sort of— something else, man. I can't get it out my head."

Sasuke would've replied had the restroom door not slammed open. A man ran into a stall frantically, barely locking behind him before he released a wet fart with a groan. Sasuke's eye twitched. Naruto pretended to gag, and pumped scented soap into his hands with renewed vigour, as though to purge them of the stench.

"We'll discuss this elsewhere," Sasuke muttered.

The man in the stall let rip another long fart. Naruto almost squawked. He practically scrambled out the restroom, back into the fight club. The dark-haired man rolled his eyes as Naruto breathed in the stench of dirt, stale sweat and weed as though it were fresh air. "Man, that stunk all the way to high heaven, believe it."

"You think?" a voice cut in.

The tall, blue-skinned man from earlier walked towards them. He was at least seven feet tall, leaving the duo feeling slightly dwarfed. At the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto open his mouth, ready with a witty comment, before his eyes darkened considerably. Sasuke wondered if he was recalling that moment from earlier, where Blue-face mercilessly prodded at Gaara with a stick. Like an animal for show.

"You two look mighty guilty about something," Blue-face commented.

"Just 'cus you heard that," Naruto let out a barking laugh that sounded slightly too forced. "Sorry, man. We were talking about this gassy guy in the restroom. Just about killed us, you know?"

"What a way to go," Blue-face chuckled, eyeing them from under his nose as he stopped before them. Idly, Sasuke noted the wounds on his face from earlier were stitched up neatly, giving him the appearance of gills.

"You two first-timers or something?" Blue-face asked.

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's the second time someone's asked us that, man. Can you really tell or something?"

"Right now, I'd say so," he said. "Show's been for over ten minutes now. Anyone could tell you to scram ASAP before any police come looking around. We usually take care of all that but still, any idiot would rather be safe than sorry."

"We were only taking a leak…"

"I'm not asking," Blue-face replied with a shrug. "I'm just kicking out the stragglers before we lock up for the night."

Naruto half-smiled. "We'll get out of your hair, man."

"It's Kisame."

Sasuke nodded once as the man walked past, towards the restroom, no doubt to lay down the same message to fart-face. Beside him, Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Sasuke himself relaxed slightly, and then wondered when he got so tense.

Without the crowd from earlier, the warehouse would've seemed almost normal; caked in dust and suspicious stains on the floor. Only _almost_ normal. As Sasuke closed off the distance between himself and the arena, he found it left almost entirely in the dark, feeding only off the dim, flickering lights of the warehouse.

"Bastard?"

Sasuke frowned. "They've yet to clean up the blood."

Standing closer behind his best friend, the blond scratched the back of his head nervously. His voice dropped low. "Is the, uh— is Sasori… still there?"

The dark haired man squinted. "They dragged him out."

"How do you know?"

"You can just about see a bloody trail. Probably Sakura's blood," Sasuke said grimly.

"Can we discuss this now?" Naruto whispered, to which he responded by shaking his head. Naruto frowned, and reached out to tug at Sasuke's sleeve, cocking his head toward the exit. "Come on. Let's get the hell out of here."

"Don't rush me, moron. I'm your ride," Sasuke snipped. Still, he followed after the blond, albeit at a more tentative pace. The violence that happened tonight may have been contained in a barbed arena— _cage,_ a part of him hissed— but still he couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was dark enough in there to barely see a thing. Still, a cold chill up his spine whispered that they were being watched somehow.

His lips pressed into a grim line.

Like hell he'd come here again.

"Where do you think they go?" Naruto said in a hushed tone. "You know, after all the fighting's done."

Sasuke wondered the exact same thing.

* * *

As he turned the key in the ignition, his black Camaro purred to life. Red numbers glared at him: 1:14a.m. Sasuke was tempted to switch his headlights on, but knew that was practically a beacon for trouble in the gritty streets of downtown Konoha.

They were parked in a dead alleyway, a way away from the warehouse.

In the passenger seat, Naruto clicked his neck, leaning back into the seat with a deep sigh. Sasuke tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, allowing his best friend three seconds to start a conversation, or else they'd drive right off. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to try and just forget tonight, but he could already guess that the idiot had other plans.

"We saw a man die," Naruto whispered.

Sasuke nodded once.

And then, frantically, the blond started, "We saw a man _die,_ bastard. What the hell do we do?"

"Aa."

"Because you're _so_ helpful," Naruto snapped sarcastically. "Come on, I'm freaking out here."

"We'll stay out of this."

"Like hell we will," Naruto said, eyes blazing. Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes. The blond continued, "You saw for yourself how they treated the fighters. Like animals. We need to get them out of there."

" _We?"_

Naruto made a frustrated noise. "Keeping them in that… that—"

"Cage?" Sasuke intoned.

"Cage!" the blond agreed passionately, slamming his fist into his palm. "With sharp-ass wires that cut that Kisame guy's face to ribbons. And poking that redhead with a stick like he was some sort of circus show. And oh my _god,_ we saw that man die—"

"You're repeating yourself," Sasuke sighed.

He seemed not to hear him. "We need to do something! This just isn't right, man. We need to get them out of there somehow. Report them to the police or whatever. We can't just leave them there!"

Naruto Uzumaki always did have a hero complex.

The dark haired man pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll need to be quiet."

"Fuck no—!"

" _Naruto,"_ Sasuke hissed. "We don't want anyone to hear us. Listen to me. Someone died tonight. No one cared. The crowd loved it. Pein's getting his fighters to fight for their lives next week. And another person _will_ die, dobe. And no one will fucking care."

" _I_ care—!" Naruto started. Sasuke cut him off.

"If they were so worried about being caught, they wouldn't be so blasé about killing people off. Didn't you hear Kisame? They 'take care' of any police that gets even a little too close— don't you find that the least bit suspicious? We don't know what they're about, or what they do. But we know they're dangerous. You saw—"

"I don't care what I saw," Naruto said, voice hard. "I want to save them. With or without your help."

"You're being stupid," Sasuke hissed. "We won't discuss this any more."

"Like hell we won't."

"Your apartment is on the other side of town," Sasuke warned him. "If you're getting a ride back, you're shutting up."

In the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto press his lips into a thin line. Silence carried after, long enough for Sasuke to calm down considerably. He began to reverse out of the alleyway onto the road when Naruto spoke again. "Fine. I'll shut up, but I'm coming back here next week."

"Hn."

The car crept onto the road. Sasuke squinted, struggling to see into the rear-view mirror. It really was dark.

"With or without— Sasuke, _watch out!"_

 _THUMP!—_

He slammed his foot onto the brake, eyes wide. "What was—?"

Naruto exited the vehicle lightning quick, his seatbelt catching at the door. Turning himself around, he only just about saw the blond's faint silhouette in the red brake light. Naruto was rambling incoherently, an edge of panic in his voice.

Unsettled, Sasuke exited the car.

" _Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man—"_ Naruto was saying, running a hand through his hair and pulling at the roots. Sasuke circled to the back of the car with a new sense of urgency, and stopped dead in his tracks when he found a body curled in a foetal position, lying in the dirt. Naruto was hovering over the prone form, reaching out with his free hand before pulling back as though he was struck by lightning.

"There's so much blood," Naruto said shakily. "B-but we didn't hit her that hard. Right? We didn't—"

There was a low, feminine groan.

"She's alive, oh thank fuck," Naruto gasped. "Hey, can you hear us?"

There was a gurgle, and then another soft groan of pain. Naruto took this as a confirmation, reaching over to help her sit upright against the car with confidence this time. "Look, we're really sorry. We didn't see you. I mean, we thought the alleyway was clear when you ran past and—"

His voice trailed into silence when she finally lifted her head, eyes half-open. Green eyes. Sasuke tried to deny it, but he knew for a fact that disregarding the reddish glow of the brake lights, her hair was probably pink. And if he had any more doubts, the sluggish blood trailing out of the stab wound in her abdomen erased them completely.

It was the champion fighter _(murderer,_ his head hissed). Sakura.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, drawing the same conclusion. There was a moment of silence where Sasuke's heart thundered in his ears. Naruto seemed not to notice, and continued. "Sasuke. We need to get her to a hospital or something."

Oh, hell no.

The look on his face must've been telling enough. Naruto stood up, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "Oi, you bastard, she's been stabbed in the gut and no one's done shit. She must've been bleeding out for ages now, she could be dying. Not to mention we fucking ran her over. We need to do something."

"She was running for a reason," Sasuke deadpanned. "They're probably after her."

"All the more reason to help her," Naruto insisted.

"I want no part in this."

Naruto squared himself, their chests a breadth away as he hissed in Sasuke's face. "Are you serious right now? You saw how they treated all the fighters. Like fucking animals. You're right, they might be hunting for her right now. For whatever reason it is, you and I both know that it can't be good."

"And that's all the more reason to stay out of this," Sasuke spat.

" _No,_ " Naruto all but growled. "I will _not_ let her go back to those fucking bastards. They left her to bleed half to death! I bet my life they were going to punish her for killing her handler."

"Let's not make assumptions—"

"Let's not," Naruto agreed. "But come on. We need to help her out. We can't leave her like this."

Sasuke looked down at Sakura's bloody form. Her breathing was far too shallow for comfort. Her eyes were shut tight in pain, and there was barely any indication that she heard too much of the exchange. That, or she didn't care if she bled to death, as long as she was far away from the fight club. Sasuke suspected it was the latter.

If Sasuke knew what was good for him, it was to stay well out of this business. Pretend nothing ever happened. Never come back again.

Naruto was hovering over Sakura again, glancing at Sasuke pleadingly.

The blond was right, that no one deserved to be treated the way these fighters were, like some subspecies beneath society. As much as Sasuke wanted to avoid the trouble, a larger part of him couldn't allow Naruto to deal with this on his own.

"Let's get her in the car," Sasuke said, resigned to his fate.

Naruto had never looked so grateful.

* * *

His eyes watched from above as two men gingerly carried a limp form into a dark Camaro. The dark haired man below looked about suspiciously, very clearly hoping to be unseen. Left, right, out the alley, but never above at the rooftops where the dark figure stood.

"We're not taking her to the hospital," he heard the dark haired man speak.

Blondie closed the car door shut. "Why not?"

"We know people are looking after her, and she's bleeding half to death. The hospital would be there first place they'd look."

"But she's—"

"Dobe, we _can't_."

His lips pulled into a frown.

The two young men were terrible at stealth, he mused inwardly. If the revving of the car hadn't alerted anyone, their earlier bickering surely did. He was here, after all. He supposed they were lucky he had no further intentions than to observe their actions. Had anyone else spotted them they would've been in a world of trouble. Not only were they holding a hunted person hostage, the sports car reeked of money to any scumbag from downtown.

He watched as the car reversed onto the road, and then took off into the night quickly. _Noisily._

What idiots.

* * *

Abandoning the idea of going back to his crappy studio apartment, Naruto followed Sasuke into his. Sasuke inwardly thanked the fact that it was way too dark for the street cameras to detect anything out of the ordinary. Like seeing the blond carry around an unconscious body in his arms, speckled with dirt and crusty, drying blood.

He held his apartment door open to let Naruto through. Sasuke gestured towards the living room, and watched as the other man gently laid her down. The door clicked shut behind him, and he turned just to watch himself bolt the door out of paranoia. He vaguely heard Naruto in the bathroom, running his bloody hands under the sink.

Blood.

Sasuke sighed. The blood will be an absolute bitch to scrub off his couch.

He'd have to worry about that later; the steadily growing blue tinge to the girl's skin was rather worrying. He racked his brain for anything first-aid related. She'd need stitches. Possibly. How else was one supposed to close a wound, right? He didn't have any needles or thread though. He never learned to sew either.

Doing up stitches _was_ like sewing… right?

 _What the fuck were they thinking?!_

Naruto reappeared in the living room with a grim look on his face.

"Right. How do we do this?" Naruto asked aloud.

Sasuke raised one eyebrow. "This was your idea. You figure it out."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Sasuke read him clearly; the blond was an open book after all. They were playing house for a... a _murderer_ that may or may not have a guilty conscience about what she did. She was being hunted like an animal. They were possibly in a world of trouble. Not to mention, it was stupid o'clock in the morning and his eyes stung from fatigue. Sasuke suspected Naruto was just as tired as he was, but his priorities were elsewhere.

Sasuke wasn't as selfless as Naruto, however.

The blond hovered over her again, brow furrowed in thought. "We'll need to clean the wound. Do you have a large bowl or basin? And maybe a rag or something for a tourniquet."

Maybe he should've sent Naruto home. Had him take Sakura with him while he was at it.

Naruto called out. _"_ Oy. _Sasuke._ "

He shrugged.

"For fuck's sake," Naruto snapped, his voice raised slightly. He eyed Sakura again before he ran his hand over his face with a sigh. "Do you actually _want_ her to die?"

"I don't even know if I want her here."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "You know what? I'm not going to just sit here and wait for you to make up your mind. You know where the things are in your house. Go clean the wound. Tourniquet first. Then, water and a rag. And then disinfect it—"

"I know first aid, moron," Sasuke snapped. _No, he didn't._

"Your bathroom doesn't even have a first aid kit," Naruto replied dryly. "Whatever, man. I'm going to run down the nearest 7-eleven and get us some essentials. Bandages, a sewing kit, and all that. I won't take ten minutes. You do your part. I'll stitch her up."

Sasuke clamped his mouth shut before he fanned the proverbial fire. Naruto was tense, and Sasuke- he had absolutely no idea what to think.

He decided to run on autopilot. He kicked himself into gear and scrummaged around the kitchen. Follow orders. He could do that.

"Since when do you know first aid?" he asked quietly.

Naruto shrugged his jacket back on, shoulders considerably relaxed once he realised Sasuke wasn't being a spaz anymore. The blond half-smiled. "I was your regular knucklehead in school, remember? I scraped myself up all the time. The nurses were nasty sometimes, especially when they found out I was being an idiot pulling pranks and things. So I learned first aid. I had to get patched up somehow, eh?"

Sasuke hummed. Naruto scratched the back of his head and inspected the girl lying still on the couch.

"Hey Sasuke?"

The dark-haired man looked up.

"Thank you. For doing this. Saving her."

Sasuke was silent. Naruto, clearly having expected as much, walked towards the door. He was about to close it behind him when he heard Sasuke speak softly:

"We're in this together."

Naruto smiled, eyes warm.

* * *

 _A/N: I do love bromance. Also a few of you have asked me about pairings: I'll let you know at the moment it's leaning more towards a slow-burn Sasusaku, though I am open to suggestions if you think this could go another way! Let me know what you think!_


End file.
